St. Cloud, Minn.: Two goals scored by St. Cloud State University first year forward Holly Roberts (St. Cloud) pushed the Huskies to a 2-2 overtime tie with the Boston University Terriers on Friday, Jan. 5, 2007 in the National Hockey Center.
After nearly a month off from competition, the Huskies returned to the ice in 2007 for the second half of their season with a strong first period against non conference opponent, Boston University.
The Huskies tallied the first score of the afternoon with Roberts’ eighth goal of the season at 04:04 of the first period. Senior forward Jackie Jensen (Madison, Wisc.) pushed the puck up into neutral ice for teammate Caitlin Hogan (Oakdale) to handle. Hogan led Roberts into the Terrier zone and Roberts found the back of the net past BU’s sophomore goalie Allyse Wilcox, stick side. Led by Roberts, SCSU outshot BU 8-6 in the opening 20 minutes and headed into the first intermission with the one score advantage.
The Terriers found a little more jump to their stride in the second after sophomore forward Gina Kearns knotted the game at 1-1 with a power play goal at 16:10. Erin Seman assisted on the goal as SCSU continued to outshoot BU 9-7 in the second.
SCSU’s Roberts sparked the Huskies early in the third with an unassisted goal just 00:38 into the period. Boston University bounced back with confidence, outshooting the Huskies 13-7 in the final period of regulation and eventually sending the game into overtime after a crucial power play goal from Cara Hendry at 08:24.
BU won the draw in the Husky zone and Nicki Wiart found teammate Sarah Appleton at the point. Appleton fired off a shot and Hendry was camped out in front for the tip-in goal past SCSU’s junior goaltender Kendall Newell (Phoenix, Ariz).
In overtime, BU committed a cross-checking penalty by Appleton at the 01:25 mark. However, BU’s penalty kill stayed perfect, holding SCSU scoreless in overtime and scoreless on the power play for the entire game at 0-of-8.
“We have to be more consistent,” said SCSU’s head coach Jeff Giesen. “We got a lot of great shots off today, now we just need to put those shots in the net.”
Roberts, who earned first star recognition, led the Huskies with her eighth and ninth goals of the season to boost her team-leading scoring number to 20 (13g, 7a) on the season. Hogan and Jensen were the other Huskies to tally points on the day, each with one assist.
“Holly had great speed today,” said Giesen. “Her experience playing with elite players
over break at Lake Placid, N.Y., has really helped her and hopefully she will continue to feed off that experience here at SCSU.”
Newell totaled 25 saves in net for the Huskies as her season record stands at 1-2-4 overall. Newell, who charted the second star of the game, now holds the new SCSU goalie record for most ties in a season with four.
Boston University was led by Kearns and Hendry, who each tallied goals. Sophomore goaltender Allyse Wilcox backstopped the Terriers with 27 saves in 64:45 minutes of ice time as her record stands at 7-5-1.
SCSU edged BU in shots, 29-27, as the Terriers connected on 2-of-8 power play opportunities.
“Every day we need to continue to get better,” commented Giesen. “Tomorrow’s game plays a crucial part in setting the tone for league play in the second half of the season.”
Of note, today’s game marked the first meeting between the two teams and the first time that BU faced a WCHA opponent.
The Huskies (7-9-5, 4-9-3 WCHA) will complete the series tilt with BU (11-6-2, 3-5-1 HE) tomorrow afternoon in the National Hockey Center. The puck drops at 2:07 p.m.